Commonplace Meetings
by GlitteringSnow
Summary: Detective Anthony DiNozzo does not like feds. So when Agent Gibbs comes along in the middle of one of his more high profile cases, him not being happy is an understatement to say the least. This is the story of how Gibbs meets DiNozzo.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter**** One**

His eyes were sharp as he looked at the body below him, sprawled out in what must have been an uncomfortable position had they been alive. Detective Anthony DiNozzo hated crime scenes, the horrors he'd seen in his career were all just about topped by this latest one. The woman must have been about twenty years old, her bright red hair was spread around her on the ground. Even in death she looked in pain.

Her arms had been twisted around her back as she was tied to the pole behind her, luckily she was still clothed but Tony knew from experience that didn't mean she hadn't faced worse things before she died. Her legs were left untied but her feet had been _sawed_ off. There was no way she could have escaped.

Tony was glad that he hadn't eaten anything because he was pretty sure that it would have come back up. He hated these sorts of crime, why would someone inflict such pain on another human being, an innocent one at that. Her ID identified her as one Samantha Donovan, she was a student at the nearby university studying English. She probably had dreams to write, Tony thought with a sad smile as he continued sketching the immediate area.

Tonys dreams were completely different of course, he'd always known that he wanted to be a policeman as soon as his mother died and he found out what his father did for a living. He snapped out of his daydream as his partner, William Stone nudged his shoulder. Giving him a smile which was extremely forced he went back to his work. It didn't take long for him to finish and he stood by as the body was loaded into a van to be taken to the morgue and examined. His face was blank as he grabbed his sketches and photos that he'd finished earlier and followed Will into their designated car.

"We're headed back to the station, we have a lot of work to do." Will sighed. Being the eldest of the two made him feel like there was more pressure on him, even though DiNozzo was always the one that managed to piece together bits of the puzzle which usually left Will in awe at how intelligent the man was because it was never in a normal conversation that he displayed how bright he was.

They made small talk on the way back, Tony was not very close to his partner, although they got along alright there was never anything that they bonded over. Tony liked sports, food and movies whereas Will liked his family, talking about his daughter and the games they'd played the night before. It made Tony sad because he didn't feel like he'd ever experience what Will had. He didn't know that Will was jealous of him as well, he could do anything he wanted but he just stayed put.

"DiNozzo, go check out the girls id some more, there has to be something that made someone want to kill her." Will directed, he knew Tony would have done it anyway but it made himself feel better knowing that his younger partner listened to what he said and wasn't going off on another one of his leads with no back up. It was obviously too soon for him to even have a lead but with DiNozzo you never know.

Tony nodded at the command and settled down at his ancient computer, smacking it slightly in impatience when it took several minutes to turn on. He could have solved the case in that time. He narrowed his eyes as slowly it flickered to life, leaning forwards slightly because the writing was so small he typed in, ever so slowly, his badge number and password. Opening up one of his preferred databases he set to work.

An hour later he wanted to hit the computer for several reasons, although he'd found out more information about the victim there was absolutely nothing to suggest that she'd ever done anything wrong, there was no reason that someone would want to kill her. Unless...

Tony spun on his chair and went back to the photos and sketches from earlier, he held them up to his computer thinking quickly. If someone had killed her for no reason that meant there was a psychopath on their hands, seeing as there was no connection to the victim to any previous known criminals or anything bad at all really. The only thing Tony noted as important was the fact she lived in university accommodation.

It was time to check that out.

"Stone." Will's head snapped up from where he had been looking through previous case files to see if anything was similar.

"Yeah?"

"Coming to check out her room with me?" Both men stood up, this was usually the extent of their conversations. Tony was known throughout the precinct as a joker, someone who liked the play practical jokes but he had enough respect for the man in front of him to remain serious when he was on a case. Will had found out in a painful way that as soon as the case was over he was fair game just like everyone else. At one point he'd tried to escape early but that just made the prank worse, he had been tied to that fan for the majority of the day.

Getting back in the car, Tony's stomach growled something fierce reminding him that he hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was now almost dinner. He made a mental note to pick up a pizza on the way back. The lab techs would probably appreciate a little something as well. He opened up the glove compartment and smiled in delight when he grabbed the chocolate that he'd shoved in there the other day, offering one to Stone who nodded Tony shoved it in his mouth making him choke slightly before glaring at the younger detective.

Tony looked at him innocently before eating his own.

Once they arrived at the university it was about seven o'clock. Tony figured that this meant most of the students were in, which would either make it easier or a lot harder. Making their way through to the reception which was surprisingly still open, they got the room number easily. Getting there was a bit harder, the accommodation turned out to be off campus and Tony and Will had never been there before. After going the wrong way for a third time, Tony rolled his eyes before grabbing the arm of a passing pedestrian.

"Hey which way to Sutton Place Apartments." After being the correct directions they made it there a lot easier. Parking on the curb Tony was the first one to get out and start walking towards the building which looked like it had seen better days. It was actually quite a nice building but there was a feel to it which made it seem not as nice as it could be. Opening the front door they walked through straight to the elevator that opened straight away, the victim had been on the fifth floor and it wasn't long before the door opened once more.

Quickly spotting the correct door they knocked, they waited a few seconds before someone opened the door. It was a blonde girl, with huge glasses that made her brown eyes look a million times bigger than they actually were, she had a few freckles dotted about and as she blinked up at them Tony noted that she had a dimple on her cheek.

"Hi." He smiled. "I'm Detective Anthony DiNozzo and this is my partner Detective William Stone, we're here about your roommate, Samantha Donovan?" The girl nodded and let them in. "I'm sorry to have to tell you that her body was found earlier today." He said this as delicately as possible but it wasn't enough as the girl burst into tears.

They both waited patiently for the girl to stop crying which she did a few moments later. "She's really dead?" She sniffled.

Tony nodded, eyes scrutinizing every movement. "She is. Would you mind if we asked you a few questions?"

She nodded quickly, eyes still shining with tears.

"What's your name?"

"Jessica Smith."

"How well did you know Samantha?"

She sniffled. "We were real close, she was the first person I met here. You know? She was always so nice to me, I don't have that many friends, people think I'm weird." She sniffled again. "Whenever she was going out she'd always invite me but I always said no, cause I didn't want to make her look bad. She was real popular, you know? How would it look if she was with me? Her stupid roommate." Jessica spat the last sentence out bitterly. "But Sam? She wasn't like that, she didn't care. Every night she'd make sure we did something together. When she didn't come home yesterday that's when I knew something was wrong, it was movie night. She never missed movie night." She burst out into tears again.

Tony and Will looked at one another. There was way too much emotion in her voice for her to be the killer, seemed like she idolized the other girl. No, Tony thought, she wasn't faking this.

"And Jessica, do you know where Samantha was the last time she went out?"

The tears were subsiding. "No. She told me she was working on a project with her group, but I don't know who was in it." She frowned, her bottom lip quivering. "I think they went to see the professor though, Samantha was an English student."

"Okay, last question. Do you know anyone who might want to hurt her?"

"No. She was so loved, I don't know anyone who didn't like her. She was one of those people, you know?"

This concluded their questions and they went to check out Samantha's room. Walking inside they saw that it was a typical girl room, it was bright and airy, pink wallpaper on one wall while the others remained blank. There were pictures dotted about all over the room, she had so many that she managed to stick them all over her huge wardrobe. Looking closer at one, Tony noted that she seemed especially close with one of her male friends, making a mental note to find out who he was, he took the picture and put it in his jacket pocket. Looking around he noticed that he bed was still made, clearly she hadn't slept in it for a while which matched what Jessica said.

He looked through the drawers, seeing Will peek into the wardrobe. There was nothing of interest in there, so he resorted to the laptop that was set on the desk. He hated technology. Opening the lid, he pushed the power button and was pleasantly surprised when it powered up straight away, maybe this was what he needed? An expensive laptop to cure his technological faults. He sighed when he realised that it was password protected. Gathering it up he shoved it into a giant plastic bag that he had folded inside his jacket pocket and zipped it up. Looks like he was going to have to make a visit down to the odd squad in the labs.

"Find anything?" Tony's head snapped up to meet his partners eyes.

"Just this." He showed Will the picture and the laptop. Will nodded and swept his eyes over the room once more, looking for any clue that they could have missed.

"Right, let's get back to the station then." With a goodbye to Jessica and an order to call them if she remembered anything relevant or saw anyone suspicious they were off. When they drove towards the station Tony turned on Will with puppy dog eyes.

Will rolled his eyes. "No, not again. How many takeaways have you had this week?" He demanded.

Tony snorted. "Only three, come on Will. You know you want pizza as much as I do."

Will sighed before driving towards the nearest pizza place, Tony hopped out with a grin and ordered their usual, along with a little something for the lab geeks. He had to keep them sweet to keep all of his cases moving along. It wasn't long before Tony was munching on his favourite, extra cheese, sausage and pepperoni. Will had his own pizza, which he couldn't eat yet because he was driving and the smell was becoming too much for him, he hoped Tony didn't notice when he slyly pushed down on the accelerator.

In record time they reached the station, Will took his pizza and immediately wolfed down a slice. Tony took his own and what he'd ordered for the lab techs and made his way downstairs to the lab. Immediately he was assaulted by the smell of different chemicals, he knew that you weren't really supposed to have food in the lab but he and the lab rats had reached an understanding, he brought them food, they gave him his results faster than everyone else.

"Hi Tony!" An overenthusiastic greeting reached his ears and he smiled when Jack, a thin wiry looking man with thick black glasses came towards him, reaching for his food. He literally stuck his head into the box and grabbed a few chips with his mouth, smiling while chewing as he looked at the slightly older man.

"Hey Jack, how's it going down here?" Another man popped up out of nowhere and snatched the hot wings out of Tony's hands, breathing in the delicious smell before digging in. "Lovely to see you again Peter, as always." Peter ignored him until he finished the first wing, then he gave Tony a smile with sauce all around his lips. "Where's Lisa?"

"Right here." She grabbed the pizza box, luckily not his, she'd come to learn that his pizza was always at the top, she'd learn this the hard way both had done a tug of war until both pizzas had slipped out of their hands, somehow gotten out of the box and died a sad death on the floor. Both of them went to get themselves another.

"What have you got for us?" Jack asked, chewing on his fries happily and looking at the bag with the laptop in.

"This." Tony placed the bag on the table in front of him, avoiding everyone's food. "It's password protected, I need to know where she was last night. I also have this." He gave them the picture he'd retrieved from her room. "Can you find out who that boy is for me?"

Lisa snorted. "Give us a challenge." She took the picture and scanned it into her computer, her's was only slightly newer than Tony's and he knew that he would be waiting a long time for the results he was looking for. Peter took the laptop out of the bag and immediately began clicking away.

Tony ate the rest of his pizza in a happy, comfortable silence as he waited. Jack had finished his food and moved onto the evidence from the crime scene earlier, Tony gathered up all of their rubbish when everyone was finished and took it back upstairs to get rid of the evidence that they were eating in the lab, yeah he and the odd squad had an understanding alright.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: Okay, so this is definitely the hardest story I've ever written, there are so many elements that I keep forgetting so that when I re-read it I get new ideas and then I have to go back and change in. So that's why this chapter has taken so long to write, sorry about that. But I hope everyone enjoys the end product.**

**Chapter Two**

Tony had wandered back down to the lab, going past some old looking guy in a suit with a really bad hair-cut to see his favourite lab monkeys. He had given them a few hours to give him what he needed, this was his only real lead and he and Will needed this to go well. This was going to be Will's last case and Tony really wanted him to go out with a sterling reputation. It was the least he could do for all that Will had done for him.

"Hey guys, you got anything for me?" Tony asked as he pushed open the door, ducking as something came flying at him. He blinked as he straightened up, looking at the attacker. "And what was that for?"

Jack glared at the door, not even looking at Tony seemingly disappointed that he didn't hit whoever he was aiming for. "Sorry DiNozzo, thought you were someone else." Tony frowned and looked at the downcast lab techs. This had never happened before, they were always happy and waiting for him to come down and annoy them.

"Okay, so what's happened?" Tony asked, going over to Lisa who was determinedly not looking at him.

It was Peter that answered him from his place over by the laptop that Tony had delivered earlier. "Some asshole fed thinks he can prioritise his evidence and bring his own tech in. He wasn't very nice about it either." Tony frowned once more, no one bossed about his lab techs except him.

"Don't worry guys, I'll go talk to the captain." Tony wasn't really on the best terms with the captain but he was sure that he could make the guy see sense, how were they supposed to solve cases if the lab techs didn't want to handle the evidence?

Tony almost got his nose crushed as someone opened the door from the outside, his almost concussion sent him stumbling back slightly as the door collided with his body. The man he had brushed past earlier stood there, in all his slightly greying bad hair-cut glory along with another man, this one was balding, short and glaring right at Tony.

Tony didn't notice that Lisa had taken to standing behind him until he felt her hands ball up his jacket, she lent up to whisper in his ear. "That's him." Tony hummed slightly, letting her get comfort from him as she remained standing close behind him, tucking a wild piece of her hair behind her ear as she avoided the gaze of the man who terrorised his lab monkeys.

"Who are you?" Tony demanded. "Unless you are an officer of Baltimore PD it is against laws and regulations for you to be down here."

The man scoffed, looking down on Tony as if he was a mere pest in his way. "I am Agent Fornell with the FBI, if you would mind stepping out of my way."

It was Tony's turn to scoff. "I can't do that." Fornell blinked at the man in front of him, wondering why he was being so annoying, hadn't he just said he was with the FBI? That usually made whoever was in his way get out of it quickly. The only other person who hadn't immediately moved was -.

His thoughts were cut off as he snapped back to attention to realise that this person, whoever he was, was still in the way. "Why?" He snapped.

"Because you haven't produced any form of identity, for all I know you could be a civilian." Tony said smoothly, turning his nose up at how he was dressed. Fornell had never been so insulted in his life, no one insulted the suit.

"Just who do you think-." The other man held his hand out to silence the angry fed, drawing Tony's eyes to him. His eyes were firmly placed on Tony as well, the greying hair only adding to what he probably hoped was an intimidating glare. And it was. It just wasn't going to work on Anthony DiNozzo. Not when he had defenceless Lab Monkeys to protect.

There was a stand-off, the three lab techs were awkwardly watching their hero try and protect them from the onslaught of almost abuse from these two feds. Harsh words that shouldn't be said and shouldn't be heard would come out of their mouths, and none of them wanted to be on the receiving end. The last time was not something any of them wanted a repeat session of.

The feds didn't quite understand that Baltimore PD did not have the same resources they did and the lab techs paid the price.

"I am Agent Gibbs with NCIS and this is Agent Fornell with the FBI." The standoff was broken when Gibbs produced his badge and nudged Fornell to do the same, he did it with an eye roll and a sigh. "We have permission from your captain to use some of the facilities." He didn't expand on what he wanted or what case he was working on, a fact Tony somewhat respected but loathed at the same time.

Tony stepped aside, and allowed them access. But there was no way that he was leaving them alone together, he decided to keep the lab techs occupied while the feds went about their business. If they were going to be difficult, he could be even more so.

When one of them went to talk to Peter, Tony kept a close ear out as he pretended to chat to Lisa. Fornell was eyeing him with a pathetic glare compared to what his buddy had going for him, but Tony didn't let it bother him. As soon as there was raised voices Tony went over.

"Is there a problem here?" He asked, grinning stupidly at Peter.

"Yes there is. I asked for this to be processed an hour ago and this idiot still hasn't managed it." Gibbs growled. Tony raised an eyebrow at the man, wondering why he was so cranky, things didn't go that quickly here.

"I don't know what you're used to but here in Baltimore, it takes about five hours for things to be processed. We're used to solving over ten cases at a time, things take time to get done but we get them done." Tony said cheerily, knowing he was annoying the man more than Gibbs would ever admit.

He remained stoic. "Then maybe you should change things up around here." He almost snarled.

Tony finally lost his smile. "How about when we actually get the same amount of funding as you feds do, we'll try to catch up." He stepped up to Gibbs, both of them standing eye to eye and you could almost feel the tension in the room.

Fornell was blinking stupidly from his place next to the evidence they had been forced to bring here. Both the director of NCIS and the FBI wanted them to get along with the detectives here but he could see that just wasn't going to happen, not with how slow things were coming and how Gibbs and this new person, who he assumed was another lab tech, were practically going at each other's throats in a way that couldn't quite be described passive aggressive. He sighed as he prepared to step in between the two, but the female lab tech got there first.

"Tony, please." She stood facing him, blocking his gaze from Gibbs'. His eyes shifted to hers and he stepped back, going over to Peter and making sure he was alright with a quick pat on the shoulder. On the other side of the room Gibbs had stalked over to Fornell, eyes blazing and furious. He couldn't believe the nerve of this man, here he was a federal agent trying to solve a murder case, and while he was trying to speed up the lab techs, one of them decided to slow them down even more.

"I told you we should have gotten this stuff to Abby, she's so much faster. Clearly they can't multitask." Gibbs muttered, and Fornell had to give in. They had given the evidence to a third party because neither of them would give up but in the best interest of the case they would have to go back to one of their agencies, not caring anymore that the murder took place in Baltimore, they could sort everything out once the case was solved.

Gibbs turned to Jack, not willing to talk to Tony again. "Send this to NCIS headquarters and we'll take it from there." That was all he said before he swept out of the room, Fornell following.

Tony smiled, he had though it would be harder to get rid of the feds. He knew that he wasn't interfering with their evidence or their case, they would get it done a lot faster and with a lot less hassle. They didn't know what it was to work a case in Baltimore, you had to be patient with your results, or you could do what he did and get in good with the techs.

He felt pretty good when they all smiled at him.

"Thanks Tony." Lisa hugged him.

"No problem." They were interrupted by a beeping from one of the machines, Peter walked over and smiled.

"We got in." Tony walked over to the laptop and watched as Peter began typing away, pulling up their victims Facebook and other social networking pages. They were able to figure out exactly where she was before she was murdered, and going by what her roommate had said, it was pretty obvious that she was coming back from a meeting with her professor and her group members. Tony pulled out his phone and rang Will, staring at the names in front of him.

"Hey Tony what's up?" Will was upstairs on his computer, struggling to get the damn thing to work, he hit the side of it and smiled when it lit up but frowned when there were lines going across it hurting his eyes.

"Got a lead, we're gonna have to head back over to the university." He hung up and ran up the stairs, Will was already waiting for him.

Once they made their way to the university, Tony pulled out the notes he had taken with everyone's name on that they had to talk to; they had already wasted a few hours trying to get the names he didn't want to waste any more time. Tony gave Will the other half of the current suspects and together they walked through the doors.

However it quickly became apparent that no one really knew anything about who killed Samantha. She was well liked and many of the students were greatly saddened by the news of her death. Tony was a great reader of body language and as the six students were questioned he grew more frustrated when they all appeared to be truthful.

Tony was the one to ask the fateful question. "Who is your English Professor?" He asked each of them this question and one by one as they were questioned, they blinked up at him.

"Professor Hammond."

"Thank you." Tony snapped the folder shut as the last student, a Miss Emily Ray was deemed truthful and innocent. They left her to whatever she was doing before they came and backed out of her room.

Will sighed and rubbed his hand over his face, although there were only six students it still was a lot of trouble and effort to question them all and determine if they were telling the truth or not, they could never really be sure if what they were being told what the truth, but all of the stories matched up but not enough to make it seem suspicious. Apparently after meeting with their professor, they had all gone their separate ways home. Samantha was the only one who lived in Sutton apartments and it was the opposite way to the others.

One boy, Rory Matthews had offered to walk her home but she had declined. From this they could work out that while she was walking home she must have been attacked by someone she knew and trusted. From what the roommate had told them there were not very many people who she trusted, but she had many friends. Anyone of them could be the culprit.

What they needed was the ballistics report from the lab and the coroner's report. From that they could pick out any fingerprints and hopefully get a match, although Tony didn't want to wait for that and that is why Tony and Will could be found wandering the halls of the university looking for Professor Hammond's office.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Will knocked on the professors door when they finally located it. Knocking twice they waited a minute before hearing shuffling and a crash from behind the door. Tony's eyebrows furrowed as what sounded like a struggle was happening behind the door, widening his eyes at Will who got the hint to move, Tony moved back before running at the door and kicking it open.

There was Professor Hammond, throat slit on the floor, grabbing at his new wound in an attempt to stem the blood flow. His attacker was standing above him, dressed in black leather with a hood that was so deep that they couldn't tell if they were male or female. They looking shocked at the two men's entry but quickly regained their senses and attempted to flee through the window. Tony immediately set after him.

"Stone, call for backup!" He shouted as he jumped through the window, trying his best to avoid any of the glass but was unfortunate enough to catch his arm on a piece. He ignored the pain and landed smoothly on the grass on the other side of the window, not faltering in his pace as he gained on the attacker. He grabbed his gun and held it to his side as he ran.

"Freeze scumbag!" He shouted. The criminal turned swiftly into a nearby alleyway and Tony followed, not giving thought to any danger that might befall him, he just wanted to catch this son of a bitch before he hurt anyone else. He put on an extra burst of speed, thankful for his sporting days in his younger years, they were about to help him here. He was about to tackle the killer but was hit in the side with something heavy.

He went flying into the alley's wall. Hitting his head on the wall with a loud crack, he slumped over and watched with bleary eyes as the killer got further and further away. What had hit him? He wondered as he tried to get up, but with weakening limbs it was growing increasingly difficult to even remain awake. He felt something warm dripping onto his neck, he must have hit the wall harder than he'd thought.

He ignored it though and forced himself up. He wanted to know what it was that hit him. Managing to get his feet underneath him he stumbled onto the wall in front of him. He looked up and noticed a pair of eyes glinting at him in the dark. This must have been what had hit him, his killer wasn't working alone. Tony grabbed at his gun holster before realising that it must have fallen out of his hand when he fell. Looking around he quickly located it on the floor and lunged towards it, aiming at where he'd seen the eyes.

But they were gone.

Tony blinked rapidly to get rid of the fast appearing black dots in his vision. He grabbed his phone and rang Will.

"DiNozzo?" Will's voice flowed through the phone. "DiNozzo are you okay? Tony? Tony?!"

Tony swallowed, his tongue felt very heavy all of a sudden. "I'm gonna need some help." Was all that he managed to say before the phone fell from his grasp. The wet feeling on the back of his neck had gotten worse so he put his hand up to it, pulling it back he saw that it was covered in a red liquid. Blood he realised, his blood.

He heard footsteps pounding, and when did he fall to the floor? He could hear Will's voice through the phone still, shouting his name and it wasn't long that the footsteps grew closer. They stopped in front of his now still form, he wasn't unconscious but damn his head hurt and the light was hurting his eyes. Something touched the wound on the back of his head and without his knowledge his hand balled into a fist and hit whoever it was that touched him. He heard an oomph and opened his eyes and when did they close?

The man from the lab was crouched in front of him, hand over his stomach as he cradled it, obviously not expecting the punch from a seemingly unconscious DiNozzo. Tony looked at Agent Gibbs, the same man that he had gone toe to toe with earlier that day and knew that he could trust him. He just knew.

And with that he finally fell into unconsciousness.

Gibbs sighed as he looked down at the downed Detective in front of him, however much he may have disliked the man he knew he had to get him to help. Luckily he knew that he had been followed into the alleyway, sure enough other police officers were crawling around and thankfully there was a paramedic that was just crouching next to DiNozzo's form.

He watched in silence as the paramedic discovered the gash on the back of DiNozzo's head that was pouring out blood. He knew that head wounds always bled more than other wounds and until he was told otherwise he was going to assume that it wasn't as bad as it looked. He got that confirmation pretty quickly.

"We need to get him to a hospital. It doesn't appear to be that deep but there could be some internal damage that we can't see." The paramedic radioed his team and it took seconds for a stretcher to appear. DiNozzo was carefully moved onto it and Gibbs felt secure enough to go further down the alley and find out what had happened.

Tony had just woken up in the hospital when Will walked in. He blinked blearily but immediately tried to sit up.

"So you hit your head on the wall and passed out." Will deadpanned as he looked around for a nurse.

"I didn't pass out." Tony muttered, his mouth feeling very dry. He took the water Will offered him, sipping slowly. "DiNozzo's do not pass out."

Will smirked. "Okay you didn't pass out." He sobered up. "Did you see who attacked Professor Hammond? And can you remember how you hit your head?" Tony nodded slowly.

"I didn't see the killer, but I know how I hit my head. There's at least two of them Will. I got barreled into while I was running and got sent packing into that wall." He rubbed his head slowly. "I can tell you that the one who hit me was male and about two hundred pounds of muscle." He strained his memory but frowned. "That's it, it was too dark to see anything else. I remember his eyes but-." He stopped and rubbed his brow.

Will felt bad for his partner lying there in the hospital bed looking quite un-DiNozzo like, and lent over to pat his shoulder. "Don't worry, we're gonna catch the son's of bitches that did this."

Tony perked up when a thought occurred to him. "What happened to Professor Hammond? Is he still alive?" By the grave look on Will's face Tony didn't really require an answer to his question. "There has to be a connection with the two murders, first the student now the professor. Seems like someone may have a grudge against that study group." Tony mused, feeling a headache coming on. Where were the nurses with the painkillers. He's take them and then sign himself out.

"Might not be the study group." Will said. "Could just be coincidental."

Tony shook his head. "I don't believe in coincidences."

Will sighed. "Well I'm going to have to get some more evidence before we can find anything to help us, I'm gonna head down to the lab and see if our ballistics report is in yet. If it isn't we're just going to have to wait." He saw Tony's look and hurried to continue. "I don't like it either but with no leads and more evidence to process what can we do?" Tony opened his mouth but Will wouldn't let him talk. "No I don't want to hear it, we're going to do this by the book."

Tony huffed and crossed his arms over his chest before picking up his glass of water again and taking a sip. His throat was feeling very dry after the small amount of talking he had done.

"And you," Will continued. "are on sick leave for two weeks. I'll try to come by with some files but you know what the Captain's like with confidentiality, ever since one of the newbies forgot some of his files on the train." They both rolled their eyes simultaneously. "Newbies."

"Yeah but you and I both know I'm not going to be in here for long." Tony was about to continue but was cut off once more when a nurse came in. She hadn't expected him to be awake and smiled uncomfortably at the two.

"Mr DiNozzo, you're awake." She shuffled over and checked his vitals and gently grabbed his head to check on his wound. "The stitches are healing nicely and I'm happy to say that there is going to be no permanent damage." Tony nodded and watched as she changed his IV.

He waited until she was finished before he asked. "I'd like my release papers please." Will ran a hand through his hair as he saw the nurses shocked reaction. Why couldn't Tony actually stay in the hospital for once? He must have banged his head harder than he realised.

"Tony." He sighed.

"What Will? You heard the nurse, there's no permanent damage and I'd like to recover in my own home." Tony gave him a look.

"Mr DiNozzo, are you sure? It's recommended for those who have suffered from head trauma to stay in the hospital for at least two days." He cut her off.

"I'm sure." She opened and closed her mouth but took one look into his eyes and shook her head, going off to fetch the papers. He nodded in satisfaction, getting up from the bed surprisingly easy in Will's eyes. He had seen Tony last night when he couldn't even lift his head off his chest but this was Tony and he bounced back from anything wanting more.

That wasn't always a good thing. Will moved forward just in case Tony needed any help but his help wasn't needed as Tony walked into the bathroom and changed into his normal clothes, not that he couldn't pull off this hospital gown because he could. It was just a bit breezy for his liking and walking down the street in it was not on his to do list.

"Will I'm not going to take the sick leave, look at me I'm perfectly fine." Tony commented as he walked back into the room. "It's just a couple of stitches I didn't even break anything this time."

Will huffed. "This time."

"And." He continued as if Will hadn't said anything. "I'm pretty sure I know where we can find a lead."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Slight mentions of themes that can be slightly upsetting. Nothing too hardcore, really just a slight mention. And the name of the killer is completely made up so if there is something attached to the name, it's coincidental and not intentional.  
**

**Chapter Four**

Tony walked into Baltimore Police Station to an unsurprising amount of silence, all of the officers and detectives had heard about what had happened and the majority had expected not to see DiNozzo for at least two weeks, the joker who never really took sick leave should have taken full advantage of a break from such a high profile case, right? The media were all over this.

But none of the other officers had Tony's drive for justice, many had been hardened by their years of working in the force and would rather have a low profile case that was easy to solve and had no murders involved. That was very rarely the case however, and most officers had become hard and stoic towards the outside world where happiness was soon turned to ways people could get hurt, and how to stop it before it happened.

Tony had already hoped on multiple occasions that he would never become so stoic and brought about his joking ways as a distraction to the devastation he often saw and had to become a part of. You would laugh or you would cry.

Sometimes you had to do both.

Tony maneuvered his way through the silent work area, weaving his way through desks and chairs that were in the way until he was in front of his Captains office.

Captain Mark Raimey was a good man in Tony's opinion. There was however certain air about him that originally made it hard for the detective to trust him, he got over that in time as Will had made it apparent that he trusted the man, and although sometimes his red alarm went off when they were near one another, Tony trusted Will's judgement. He only hoped that he wouldn't be proved wrong one day.

He knocked on the door. "Come in." Captain Raimey's deep baritone voice came through the door. Tony opened the door and closed it behind him, walking until he was stood in front of the captains desk. Raimey's head looked up from where he was filling in some paperwork and smiled when he saw the young detective. "Ah, DiNozzo, come in, come in. Sit down, lad."

Tony was already in at this point so merely blinked before taking the seat in front of the desk. The chair wasn't very comfortable and was obviously rarely used as the leather was stiff. He shifted and winced when the leather squeaked.

"What can I do for you?" Raimey asked, moving whatever he was working on out of sight. Tony dismissed this action.

"There is something Captain. Gibbs and Fornell. Are they still in Baltimore?" At this point the Captain lent forward in his seat, eyes narrowing slightly.

He frowned gently. "They're back in DC. Something about a problem with the lab techs." He gave Tony a look. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

Tony grinned. "I have no idea what you're talking about. And thanks for the stapler sir." He stood up and gave a mocking salute that the Captain waved on and walked back out of the office. He remembered that Gibbs was NCIS, why had he paired up with an FBI agent in the first place, and what was he doing in the alley where Tony was attacked.

He needed more information. So he went down to his lab monkeys.

"Lisa give me something." He said as he barged through the doors, almost hitting Will in the process who was lucky enough to dodge out of the way and turned to give him a glare. He ignored it. "Anything, please." He grinned charmingly at her, which soon transformed into a pout when she scoffed at him.

"Alright, just stop with the faces." She spoke as she started typing on her out of date computer, bringing up several files and pictures. "Okay, we've got the ballistics back on the evidence found from the first victims body, there was some skin found under her fingernails which suggests that she fought back. The skin belongs to," She brought up a picture of a skittish looking man with dark hair and watery blue eyes, "a David Cotton, resident of Baltimore, 36 years old, unemployed, 5 foot 7, 200 pounds." Tony's eyes narrowed in on the picture.

"That fits the description of the Professors attacker, the two murders are definitely linked then." Will summarised. "Did you find out how she was killed?"

"That I did," Jack spoke from another computer, bringing up paper files. "she was drugged. That's why it seemed like she knew the person who attacked her. Then he cut off her feet so she couldn't get away, and," He paused.

"Did he rape her?" Tony asked softly.

Jack shook his head. "No, thank God. He did something else though, he injected her with something, some new type of poison. It appears to boil the blood and degenerates the muscle tissue from the inside out. It really is a horrible way to die." He looked absolutely disgusted.

"Was the Professor injected with the same poison?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, but you two showed up before it could take place which I'm gonna assume caused Cotton here to panic." Will nodded and turned to Tony.

"We need to find this guy before he does it to anyone else"

"You got that right." Tony muttered, and then in a louder voice. "We need everything you got on this guy." He looked into those watery eyes of David Cotton with a frown of his face. A thought occurred to him. "Did you find anything from the laptop?"

Peter looked up from where he was measuring something. "No, there's nothing to suggest that the victim had any contact with Cotton. It was all standard teenager stuff, social networks, emails and school work was all that was on the hard-drive."

"So why did he target her?" Will asked, coming to stand next to his partner.

The three lab techs shrugged. "I guess that's something you'll have to ask him when you bring him in." Lisa said, completely confident in their ability to catch this bad guy.

"Hey Will, have you ever been to DC?" Tony asked after they said goodbye to the lab monkeys.

After picking up coffee, four cups, they strolled into NCIS Headquarters after Tony managed to convince the guards to let him in, he actually only had to mention this Mr Gibbs for them to suddenly be compliant, he also helped them along with extra doughnuts he'd bought.

Everyone loves doughnuts.

It didn't take long for Tony to spot Gibbs who was shouting at a small, blonde haired man who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but near the gruff man who's voice must have been getting sore by the looks of it. He and Will walked over, slowly, waiting for Gibbs to finish.

Tony had filled Will in on the way over, the drive being more than enough time for him to be caught up on everything. Will was amused at the way Tony handled things but he knew that Tony was loyal to a fault and particularly to the little guys, that included the lab techs that Tony had grown increasingly fond of, a fact Will liked because their evidence was usually first on their agenda and it made trips down to the lab entertaining.

"Is that our guy?" Will asked, motioning to the still shouting Gibbs who seemed to be calming down. As they approached with caution Gibbs noticed Tony from over the small man's shoulder.

"Get out of here." He said to the man who took this opportunity to high tail it out of there. "Detective, didn't expect to see you here." He eyed the coffee warily, although took a cup when it was offered, pleasantly surprised when it was stronger than he though it would be. Tony smirked to himself.

He then smiled tightly, becoming more serious. "Agent Gibbs. A pleasure as always." Neither man offered a hand to shake and neither was offended, although Tony took this opportunity to smile wider. Will, having not see the two men together before, wondered what had turned his usually care free partner into a more serious detective.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Gibbs asked, clearly not happy about either of them being there.

Tony nodded reluctantly and motioned towards the monitor where a picture of David Cotton was on the screen. "I think you can, we're after the same guy. It would help if we knew why _you _were after him." Gibbs eyed them both for a second, seeming to think something over before he came to a conclusion.

He grabbed the remote from his desk and clicked it, both detectives stood there waiting for something to happen, but when nothing did Gibbs became more and more annoyed, pressing harder on the buttons as if that was going to help. Giving up, he reached into his pocket, took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Abs, the clicker isn't working again." He scowled into the phone. "I've tried that." He rolled his eyes. "Yes Abs, it was working yesterday... Look can you fix it or not?..." He shut the phone with a satisfied snap, before turning back to the detectives.

"NCIS has been looking for Cotton for six months." Gibbs began motioning over to the pumpkin orange walls where there was a picture of Cotton up, along with nine other criminals. "He's in the process of perfecting a new poison, he's probably called it something stupid, but it's not stupid at all. This poison-"

"Burns your blood?" Will offered, Gibbs narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly.

"It also-"

"Degenerates your organs?" Tony put in, grimacing only slightly as Gibbs turned that glare onto him, he pushed past it though and kept eye contact. "Yeah our guy here has tested it out on a female university student in Baltimore."

Will stepped forward to offer what the other two men would not. "Joint investigation?"

Gibbs nodded when it became apparent that although he hadn't vocalised it he knew that the younger of the two detectives was willing to play ball if it meant that they would catch this guy. And he would never admit it, but he admired that about him. Many of the younger law officials would rather try and claim all credit that care about the actual investigation. Gibbs could see all of this in the detective and he wondered what else he would be able to find out.

Looking around at the three empty desks, he knew he had to find a team that could work with him. And by the basis that all of the randomly allocated non-permanent team he had been assigned to work with, it had to be fast.

The elevator dinged and Gibbs smiled a little when he saw his forensic scientist, Abigail Scuito scuttle over in her ridiculously high heeled platform boots she insisted on wearing. It would be interesting to see what she thought of the young detective.

"Gibbs!" Tony was shocked when a young woman, dressed in a lab coat, which was covering some, quite frankly alarming clothes, trotted over and gave the gruff man a hug. One that he actually returned. She then proceeded to completely ignore Tony and Will and set about fixing the remote that Gibbs handed to her.

Gibbs smirked at the bewildered looks on their faces, and this gave Tony the chance to snap out of it. "Um hello?" He offered to the strange woman, who whirled around, teetering dangerously on her heels which prompted him to reach an arm out to steady her.

She blinked up at him owlishly. She then beamed at him. "Awww, he's so cute. Gibbs you have to keep him!" She squealed before noticing the coffee, taking the remaining cup and taking a sip, sighing when it wasn't too strong for her. She didn't know how Gibbs did it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Agent Pacci was shocked when he walked into the bullpen at NCIS headquarters, he had heard whispers of two Baltimore Detectives who were talking to the infamous Agent Gibbs. He had heard whispers that they were getting along, Pacci wished the elevator would hurry up so he could see if this was true or not.

He stepped out of the elevator almost bumping into the enthusiastic and slightly hyper forensics scientist, Abby Scuito who gave him a smile and walked past him into the elevator which he promptly walked out of.

He wanted to run over and have a look at the trio of people but he restrained himself to a little bit to fast to be casual walk. He set down the coffee he was holding and scratched his neck in a bid to look like he wasn't looking and turned his head.

He felt his jaw drop.

Gibbs was actually talking calmly to the two men. The legendary second B for bastard Gibbs was actually talking to them and not screaming at them to get out of his workspace. Pacci blinked, this had never happened before and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to go about his work when all he could think about was there was something about the two men that Gibbs obviously liked.

He wondered whether they knew it or not.

He flicked his eyes over to take another look, accidentally catching Gibbs' eye and he immediately looked away and almost wished he was dead, but when nothing came flying over to hit him he relaxed. Gibbs had never actually thrown anything at anyone before but there was always the first time for everything, and this was definitely a first. Gibbs was notoriously difficult with people from other agencies.

Of course, he could work with them if it came down to it, but it was never with the level of co-operation that he saw the trio working with now.

This must have either been serious, or Gibbs was looking to steal one or both of them for his own. Pacci wanted to look over again, he could hear the faintest conversation coming from the trio and desperately wanted to know what was being said but didn't dare go any closer for fear of facing the wrath of Gibbs who he knew wouldn't appreciate what was being said about the three men.

Pacci looked at his team, motioning the male and female over. "Does anyone know what's going on?" He whispered, making sure to be barely heard because Gibbs had the ears of a hawk and would swoop down on the unsuspecting in a way that truly unnerved him.

Agent Cliff shook her head. "No sir. They came in earlier today and there was an initial tension but they seem to have come to some sort of agreement." The three agents peeked their heads over the small wall that separated them from the subjects of their curiosity. Pacci looked at the younger of the lot and almost smiled, he could tell from this distance that he was trying his best to be annoying and was looking forward to when Gibbs would explode.

He bit his lip before turning back to his team, motioning for them to move back to their desks before Gibbs realised what they were doing. "Anyone feel like making a bet?"

Both sets of eyes looked curiously at him.

On the other side of the wall, Tony was trying his best not to be annoying. He knew that if the two of them were going to work together he had to at least try. He would try his best to solve this case for that poor girl and then he could be as annoying as he wanted. Which he most definitely would.

Tony understood that for the case to be solved he had to work with this man, they desperately needed the equipment this guy could hook them up with and if that meant biting his tongue every once in a while he could do it.

"What were you doing in Baltimore?" Tony asked, giving the man a hard look. "I remember you were in the alley way when I was attacked, why were you there?"

"Following a lead," Gibbs said, returning the look. "I saw you chasing the perp and followed. Turned out to be a good thing I did." Tony chose not to respond to that. "Fornell and I were in Baltimore because we got a call from a friend asking for help, it just so happened that a few of you LEO's didn't like us being there." Gibbs shook his head at the two of them, especially at Tony

Tony felt a little bit of anger stirring up in his stomach. "Maybe you did something to them." He suggested, feigning an innocent shoulder shrug.

Gibbs smirked slightly, keeping eye contact.

Will looked between the two of them knowing he'd missed something but shrugged it off. "So DiNozzo and I are going to head back to Baltimore, we'll send you our files so you can catch up, if you could do the same?" He raised an eyebrow at the end of his question.

Gibbs shook his head. "Nah, there's no need for that. I'm coming with you." He grabbed his gear out of his desk and took his jacket off the back of his chair stopping in front of the two of them, shell shocked as they were, before moving around them, giving Tony a sarcastic pat on the back as he walked towards the elevator.

He pushed the button and was waiting for the doors to open, smiling as he heard the two men scramble after him. He schooled his face as he saw Agent Pacci and his team staring at him, he liked Pacci but it was only right to instil a bit of fear in him to make sure no one thought he was going soft.

So he glared.

Pacci spun around, cursing himself, Gibbs had already caught him staring once what was he going to think if he caught him for the third time. There definitely would not be a third time. No one was that stupid. He typed on his computer, hitting the thing when it froze. He waited for the ding of the elevator to signal it had arrived and the gentle noise of the doors opening and closing before he even dared to take a breath.

"Damn Gibbs" He muttered to himself, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck finally go down and he was able to relax. His phone began to ring. "Pacci."

In the elevator it was the most awkward ride Tony had ever experienced. It didn't help that Will kept throwing him glances that he couldn't understand, but he knew it had something to do with the man that was stood behind him.

Once the doors opened he didn't waste any time getting out, hurrying over to their parked car, waving sarcastically at Gibbs at the two Baltimore detectives drove past his car. Gibbs didn't bother to hurry after them, he knew they'd be stopped at the security checks so he leisurely followed.

Tony smiled at the woman in the little booth that was checking the cars going out of the navy yard. "So come here often?"

The woman snorted, looking completely shocked that noise came out of her as her eyes widened as she covered her nose. She blushed wildly and seemed flustered by the amused look Tony gave her. She motioned them through quickly, not bothering with half of the checks she was supposed to do she was so embarrassed. She had never snorted before, why did she always have to make herself look stupid in front of hot guys?

She sighed but straightened up as Gibbs rolled up to her, he flashed her his ID, the one she'd seen a thousand times and pressed the button to let him through. He nodded at her before driving recklessly to catch up with the really hot guy in the car ahead.

Tony lent back in his chair, preparing himself for the hour drive ahead, mentally going over everything that had happened today. He was glad that they had Gibbs on board, he would much rather have him as an ally rather than an enemy, that man sure knew how to intimidate someone.

"So what'd you think?" Will asked, looking over at his younger partner.

"About what?" Tony sighed, shifting to make himself more comfortable.

"About life." Will chuckled and shook his head. "About the case. You really think Gibbs is gonna be able to help us?"

Tony nodded slowly. "I sure hope so." He had to think positively otherwise this would have all been such a waste of time that could have been used doing something a lot more productive. "I think he's gonna be at least some help. You heard him, he was called in. There's only one reason why someone gets called in, you and I both know it. He must be good." Tony theorised.

Will nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

They sat in silence for a second before Tony turned the radio on. Highway to Hell blared through the radio and Tony immediately started to sing along. Drumming his hands on the sides of his chair he got louder and louder as the song progressed. Will just smiled at his friend, no matter how many times he told him he couldn't sing it didn't stop him from trying.

Will turned back to the road just in time to slam on the brakes. Tony went flying forward, his seat belt catching him in the chest making most of the air rush out of his chest. As the car screeched to a stop Tony was pushed backwards against his chair, he rubbed his chest where the seat belt had dug in and looked out through the front window.

"Jesus Christ." He muttered, reaching down to loosen his seat belt, throwing it off him and opening the door. He looked down the road where the carnage was, a truck had spiralled out of control which made other drivers panic and some had crashed into each other while the truck had crashed into the side of a building.

Tony peered closer and saw that the truck and a few cars were leaking, he exchanged a look with Will and together they ran towards the nearest car.

**AN: Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, I had a bit of writers block with it and this is the way it wanted to be written so it took me a while. Hopefully the next chapter comes to me more easily so I can update sooner. Anyway tell me what you thought!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Tony and Will split up, going separate ways and trying their best to keep calm. Tony had ran towards a school bus that he could see was filled with children, most were crying, some were hugging others and the teachers at the front with the driver were all unconscious. That must have been where they were hit.

He wondered how he was going to get them out before going to the back of the bus and trying to open the door. A few of the children had noticed him and were trying to help him out.

"Help us!" They screamed through the window.

"It's okay!" He shouted back, grabbing his badge and slapping it against the window. "I'm a police officer. I'm here to help you." He went back to the door and dug his fingernails into the tiny crevice where the door reached the edge and pulled. It opened slowly, quickening when he was able to put his strength into it. "Come here!" The children came over like scared sheep, all of them were shaking and the amount of pity Tony felt was unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

He reached his arms towards a little girl with pigtails and helped her down. "Go and stand by that nice man sweetheart." He said, pointing towards where he could see Gibbs. He helped the remaining children out before climbing in. He carefully walked over bits of rubble that had fallen from the roof of the bus and made it to the front, he took the pulse of each of the adults to see who needed to get off first.

He chose the eldest man, whose pulse was faint and picked him up carefully. He shoved the door open when it had swung shut and was extremely careful when he climbed down from the bus. Tony now had a choice to make, he needed someone to help him with this and his eyes flickered over to Gibbs who was standing with the kids, making sure none of them were hurt.

His eyes then flickered over to Will who was helping a young family out of their car. He sighed and laid the man down on the floor, taking his pulse again and was relieved when it remained the same. Tony was reluctant to leave the man without any assistance but there were two other people on that bus so with regret he left the man propped up on the side of another car that was relatively unharmed. He climbed back into the bus and got the woman out before going back for the driver.

None of them were harmed that he could see except for a few scrapes and scratches and that was all he hoped they had managed to get.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs jogged over, "The paramedics and fire department are on their way." Tony nodded and motioned for Gibbs to grab one of the three unconscious people and together they lifted them out of harms way, over to where the children were gathered.

"Okay guys, listen up. I need you to do something for me okay?" They nodded as one. "I need you to keep an eye on your teachers and driver. Make sure they keep breathing okay? Ambulances should be here soon."

"Where are you going?" A little girl asked, her voice shaking as she looked up at Tony.

"I'm going to help more people." He motioned towards the other cars that still had people stuck in them. There weren't very many left now and that made Tony feel extremely relieved. He left the kids and made his way over to a Jeep that had a man and a woman stuck in it. "Hello?" He called, tapping on the window. "Can you hear me?" The man startled and he looked around before settling his eyes on Tony.

He blinked rapidly and started to panic. "No, no, sir. Calm down. I'm gonna get you out." Tony promised, trying to undo the door. It wouldn't budge. He kept a calm look on his face and went to the back door instead. He managed to pull it open. "Okay, here's what I want you to do. I want you to crawl over the back and climb out here." The man nodded and fumbled with his seatbelt casting a worried glance at his female companion. "Don't worry about her, I'll get her out." This was all the man needed as he managed to get himself out of the car.

Tony nodded at him and sent him off to look after the kids. "I'll be right over there." He promised.

"Please get her out." The man pleaded, sending the woman another glance before running to the group of children, all of whom looked incredibly relieved that an adult was helping them out. Tony looked around for his two colleagues, finding them helping the remaining people.

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and climbed through the back seat and into the drivers seat. He undid the woman's seatbelt and checked her pulse, glad to see that she was still alive even though she had a nasty cut on her head. She'd been knocked unconscious by the impact.

Tony reached across her to try and open the door, this door was stuck as well. He grit his teeth and turned to the drivers door instead, he pulled the handle and kicked the door, managing to dislodge it. He smiled with relief and turned back to the woman, trying hard not to hurt her even more as he didn't know what other injuries she had. He cradled her in his arms and had great difficulty getting the two of them out of the car.

He was still trying when he smelt it. The horrible realisation that something bad was going to happen, because he could smell gas. At a car crash as bad as this, that only meant one thing. One of the vehicles was going to explode and if he didn't hurry up so was he.

"DiNozzo!" He turned to the side and almost hit his head on the car door, Gibbs was running over, obviously realising the danger at the same time.

"Is everyone else out?" Tony shouted, still struggling with the woman. One of the loops on her jeans had gotten stuck on something.

"Yeah, everyone else is fine." Gibbs assured him, taking one of the woman's arms and trying to help. "She's stuck." Tony said, handing her body to Gibbs and climbing back in. The smell of gas was getting stronger.

"Hurry up DiNozzo." Tony nodded and untangled the woman.

"Go. I'll be right behind you." Gibbs gave him a hard look before nodding and pulling the woman out of the car. Tony crawled out of the car and started to run, knowing he had precious little time left, but he stopped in his tracks as he heard screaming from a car next to him.

"Mommy!" Tony ran towards it and managed to lift the edge of the car up, peering up at him was a little girl of about five, holding a teddy bear and wearing a frayed pink dress.

"Mommy's this way." He grabbed her without waiting to see what she had to say and ran, the gas igniting behind him. He protected the little girl's head and continued running, ignoring the way that the fire was licking at his heels. He could actually feel the flames on his back.

"Tony!" Will shouted, only just noticing what was going on, he wanted to run towards his partner but the inferno behind him was too intimidating.

Tony dodged as a bit of shrapnel flew towards his head, he kept running though, making sure that his feet were not going to slip. The last thing he wanted was for himself and the little girl to be engulfed by flames.

"He's not gonna make it." Will fretted.

Gibbs was unconvinced and as the two of them watched in extreme anxiousness, Gibbs began to smile. "He's gonna make it."

Tony managed to run behind where the fire men had set up and were spraying their hoses into the flames in an attempt to put them out. He looked behind him to see the devastation that it had caused. Tony panted and handed the little girl off to a paramedic.

He came to a stop in front of Will who was looking at him a bit differently, pride was on his face and as soon as he was close enough he patted him on the back. Gibbs waited until the moment was over before offering his hand. "Good job DiNozzo."

Tony looked at the hand, grinned and took it. "It was nothing." He shrugged off a blanket one of the paramedics was trying to put on him. "I don't need it." He insisted.

"Sir, your back has been burnt by the flames. I need you to come with me." A male paramedic said, trying to pull Tony over to an ambulance.

Tony tried to look over his shoulder to see his back but was unsuccessful. Both Gibbs and Will couldn't withhold their winces as they saw the extent of the burn, his entire back was bright pink, his shirt having been mostly burnt off.

Tony caught this look and decided to have it checked out, if it had Gibbs looking uncomfortable than it must be bad. He couldn't feel any pain however, but assumed it was because of the adrenaline.

"Sir, if you'd like to take a seat." Tony did as he was asked, turning this way and that to hurry it along. He hissed when something cold was applied to his back but other than that he was declared healthy. Something he was extremely thankful for as he wasn't too fond of hospitals. Just before he was let go, the male paramedic stopped him. "Thank you sir. And thank you for what you did today, I saw you save that little girl." He waved a hand to where they could just about see the little girl being patched up.

Tony nodded. "Do you know where her mother is?"

The paramedic checked a list he had out. "Yes, she and her husband were found on the opposite side of the road. They're being seen to now."

"How did they get all of the way over there?"

The paramedic shook his head with a grim smile. "They were thrown from the car when it collided, seems like they weren't wearing their seat belts. If I'm honest they are extremely lucky to be alive right now, although they are being taken it, the both of them have quite a few broken bones between them."

Another patient was soon brought in and Tony wandered back over to Gibbs and Will who were waiting for him.

"Shall we continue?" He asked, walking to the car and grabbing a fresh shirt from the back, swapping it for his ruined shirt. He looked sadly at it. It was one of his favourites.


End file.
